Expansion of drone technology

 Washington Examiner:

Only in the last few years has drone technology potentially become advanced enough to transport humans. That type of transport, called advanced air mobility, is the next transformative technology in aviation.

There are several categories of advanced air mobility, but the primary ones are cargo and human passenger transportation.

The cargo category is known as "unmanned aerial systems," which are autonomous vehicles such as drones. They have a variety of uses, including commercial and recreational filming activities and package delivery. In 2019, the federal government put advanced air mobility priorities in the federal budget for the first time, and that led to the Federal Aviation Administration starting to manage this new technology and activity through the National Airspace System. That allowed the FAA to issue an authorization to use UAS to Wing, a subsidiary of Google, to deliver packages to customers.

The category of passenger transportation is called "urban air mobility." It has just started to be developed with vehicles called "electric vertical takeoff and landing" aircraft. The eVTOL is being developed for passenger transport in high-density areas, underserved communities, and geographically rural communities. These vehicles are designed with a battery-powered rotor blade propulsion system. They're able to take off from a stationary position, fly for short ranges, and have a high level of automation using artificial intelligence.

There is now a global effort underway to develop the advanced air mobility market and capabilities. German companies such as Volocopter and Lilium are working on aerial ride-sharing services and air taxis. In South Korea, Hyundai is leading a public-private cooperation. In China, EHang is creating autonomous aerial capabilities.

In the United States, the major players are not the well-known aerospace companies but Silicon Valley technology companies that are filling the void by partnering with automotive companies with aspirations to bring urban air mobility vehicles to market. These are partnerships such as Uber Elevate with Hyundai and Joby Aviation with Toyota.

These entrants into the aviation sector lack the aerospace experience in working with the FAA on aviation infrastructure planning and certification requirements. That is why the government needs to step in to establish the infrastructure and industry guidelines to support this emerging technology. Regulation and certification will need to be developed for human transportation by eVTOL. To ensure safety and reliability, the FAA needs to play a central role with its established regulatory, testing, and certification process.

Initially, eVTOLs will be flown by trained operators or pilots, but eventual unmanned technology will be developed with AI-controlled collision avoidance systems. Traffic management systems, communication systems, and operator training will need to be addressed for this emerging market.

A physical infrastructure in cities and areas where eVTOLs will be used needs to have coordinated charging stations, landing pads, and repair stations. These things cannot happen by themselves. The government will have to play a central role in facilitating the advancement in this field, just like it did with the advancement of the automotive field.

It took the government more than 40 years from the time the automobile first started being produced to implement a national infrastructure of regulations and laws for automobiles. In order for eVTOLs to advance, the government does not have the luxury of taking that long. For the U.S. to continue being the global leader in this field, it needs to develop a national infrastructure for UAS alongside its technological advancement.

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There is more.

As a transportation vehicle, it sounds like the skies will be crowded especially in large cities.  Parking spaces for the craft would be crowded in those cities too with limited space on rooftops  The charging stations would also be another drain on the grid that could not be filled with wind and solar.